Gregory Peck: Style Icon

Why He's A Style Icon

His name says it all: Peck. Brief, sweet and straight to the point — like a man should be. It’s homophonous for a chiseled chest, just two letters shy of full-blown manhood, and fitting for his only Academy Award-winning performance as the handsomely attired attorney Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird (we can almost hear the pecking now). Gregory Peck's wardrobe in his acclaimed role is a study in the quintessential Southern gentleman: white shirt, waistcoat, pocket watch, and tortoise-tinged spectacles. It was a distinctive change from his performance almost a decade earlier in Roman Holiday. Cast alongside a then-unknown Audrey Hepburn, Peck captured the suiting style of a generation with enormous shoulders, a ventless jacket, pleated pants, and lapels nearly wide enough to take flight. It set the stage for The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit — an entire movie dedicated to Peck in the suit that defined an entire era. The color was corporate and anonymous, marking the beginning of a post-WWII culture built on business. Fast-forward 30 years, and you arrive at the ‘80s power suit — a strikingly similar silhouette to the one that helped turn Peck into a style icon.

Dress The Peck Way

By today’s slim standards, Peck looks like he’s drowning in boxy bespoke. And yes, while the ‘80s are back for a retro revival, no one is advocating that men's suits be resurrected in an oversize Wall Street sort of way. There are greater lessons to learn from Peck — namely, how to look like a gentleman anywhere in the world.

During his time, a suit was the dress code for men of means no matter the situation. Trotting around town decked to the hilt on an Italian motor scooter drove that point home perfectly. But Gregory Peck’s unique contribution to the style chronicles really rests with the waistcoat. For the British-language impaired, it’s a vest. And although they’ve waxed and waned in popularity over the years, they’re a relatively unseen sight on this side of the Atlantic. Now, as three-piece suiting makes a comeback 2010-style, and the lines between street and chic are blurred (you have our blessing to wear that waistcoat with jeans), we can look back on Peck and thank him for his Southern hospitality.